How low can they go? Motorola today is taking a stab at the budget smartphone market with the new Moto E, which will be priced at a remarkably low $129 without a contract.

Given its budget pricing, the Moto E has hardware specs to match. That means that you’ll be using a device with a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 dual-core processor (paired with 1GB of RAM), 4.3” 960x540 display (256 PPI), 4GB of internal storage (expandable with an included microSD slot), 5MP rear camera, built-in FM radio, and a 1,980 mAh battery. The Moto E also ships with a "pure" version of Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

It should also be noted that the Moto E’s display is covered in Gorilla Glass 3 and the body of the device is water resistant. Motorola is also providing changeable backplates, which it calls “Motorola Shells,” in 20 different colors.

For $129 off contract, there’s really not much to complain about here, so hopefully Motorola will have a hit on their hands as the phone launches in 40 countries on over 80 carrier partners in the coming weeks.

In other Motorola news, it was also announced today that the Moto G has been upgraded to support LTE connectivity. The new LTE-capable Moto G is priced at $219, while the older models sticks around at $179.

"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer